Prep wrestling: Tigers gamble against Hickman, come up short

Smith-Cotton wrestling coach Joel Sherman rolled the dice and went for a team win on Thursday night against the Columbia Hickman Kewpies. Sherman moved Dakota Proctor up to the 195 pound match, but Proctor lost to Will Owens and the Kewpies prevailed late with a 43-31 win.

“We knew it was going to be close, and I bumped Dakota up there at the end in order to try to get a tie or a win, and it didn’t work out in our favor, but I had to try,” Sherman said. “Dakota gave a great effort. He was giving up 20 pounds. He weighed in at 175, and that kid weighed in right at 195. I was proud of his effort. That was a good match for him heading into districts here in a week.”

The Tigers started slowly, dropping the first three matches as Hickman built a 16-0 lead before Smith-Cotton began to climb back into the match.

“I’m not upset with our kids at all. We kinda started out a little flat, but they were a lot tougher on the lower classes. It was hard for us to get some momentum, but once we got it, the ball started rolling,” said Sherman.

Zach Wooldridge recorded the first win for the Tigers, holding slim leads after the first two periods before holding off a late scoring attempt by Hickman’s Marlin Johnson.

“We just got Zach Wooldridge back from an injury, and he probably should have beat that kid better than what he did, but he squeaked out a win,” said Sherman.

Smith-Cotton lost the next two matches before picking up points with Hickman being open at 145. Then Jacob Weeks took the mat and provided the most impressive win of the night.

Weeks led just 5-3 after the second period before taking command in the third. He dominated his opponent and won easily.

“Jacob Weeks, he’s come along. I think he’s got over 20 wins this season. He’s just doing a fantastic job for us,” said Sherman.

The next match, at 160 pounds, gave Smith-Cotton’s Petr Tsymbal another chance to showcase his improvement in only his first season of wrestling. Tsymbal came out attacking and recorded the Tigers’ lone pin of the night with 40 seconds remaining in the first period.

“He’s a first-year kid and wrestling tough,” said Sherman. “He doesn’t know a whole lot, so sometimes he gets caught in things he shouldn’t.”

The Tigers picked up points in the next two weight classes since Hickman did not have wrestlers, so Smith-Cotton took a brief lead in the match. That set the stage for Proctor’s battle with Owens at 195. Proctor wrestled tough for two periods before Owens was able to flip him and record the pin in the third.

Hickman finished the victory with a win at 220 and received the points at 285 since Smith-Cotton was open at that weight.

Overall, Sherman was pleased with the way his team performed on Senior Night.

“I’m pretty proud of our effort against a bigger school, a bigger team,” he said.